We provide Epicor ERP solutions at Six S Partners to help our manufacturing clients improve their core activities and acquire a competitive edge. We do this by integrating specialized manufacturing automation software alongside our traditional solutions. Two of this specialized software are CADLink and ECN Manager, which both have capabilities to streamline the work of product designers and engineers.
CADLink
QBuild, an Epicor partner, develops CADLink. It is a premier Computer Aided Design (CAD) to ERP integration tool for Epicor. It is a tool to create, compare and modify Bill of Materials (BOM) and parts data. A BOM is a detailed list of all parts, assemblies, drawings, and other materials required to create a product. Your Engineers can create Epicor Item Master and BOM records identical to engineering CAD data. Integrating with CADLink reduces manual data entry and clerical errors.
This integration helps increase the speed of data flow from sales to engineering, procurement, and manufacturing. It gives you a competitive edge by streamlining the entire product development process by integrating your CAD system with your Epicor ERP solution. The integration eliminates any burdens from disparate systems and allows your engineer to focus on their design work. Keeping your Epicor engineering data accurate and in-line with your engineering drawings and models is essential. With CADLink, you will significantly improve production speed, on-time shipments, and accuracy for Epicor engineering data. It will also lead to reduced engineering costs, scrapped parts, and confusion on your shop floor.
Watch how the CADLink interface works.
Benefits of CADLink for ERP engineering:
- Eliminates manual data entry
- It helps cut design costs
- Improved data consistency and accuracy
- Improves information flow
- Reduced cycle time
ECN Manager
Epicor ECN Manager, also powered by QBuild, is a web-based engineering automation system designed to connect your engineering changes to what you are building on the shop floor. It allows your designer to create and modify engineering change notices (ECNs) within their software of choice, even when they are in the middle of making those changes. The ECN Manager organizes all ECNs into a coherent and visual structure that is easy to manage so that engineers and engineering managers can quickly access information relevant to their workflow. Six S Partners can customize your ECN Manager to fit your company’s business requirements.
Epicor ECN Manager has two primary capabilities:
- Designer: You can create and manage ECNs directly through the CAD software through the designer functionality. You can specify the users that need to review the parts for approval. You can store any relevant documentation for the ECN in any file format. Other capabilities include:
- Create and update ECNs directly from your CAD
- Attach and store any relevant documentation
- Engineering Manager: With this functionality, you can approve changes through a highly visual user interface. Manage user type categories and assign them to users, making the approval process more efficient. Other capabilities include:
- Review and approve changes through a highly visual UI
- Track assigned engineering change tasks
- View engineering change metrics
- Flexible approval workflow
Benefits of ECN Manager for ERP engineering:
- Easily Manage ECNs: ECN Manager organizes all ECNs into a coherent and visual structure that is easy to manage. Engineers and engineering managers can quickly access information relevant to their workflow.
- Faster ECN process: the approval work process is shortened. Each user can get in the ECN in the order that they choose. This ensures that each user never has to look at someone else’s ECN.
- It’s highly customizable: Six S Partners can work closely with our clients to customize the feature-rich ECN Manager and ensure it integrates seamlessly with your current workflow.
- Extension to Epicor CADLink: when used with the Epicor CADLink extension, ECN Manager is compatible with industry-leading CAD systems like SOLIDWORKS®, Inventor®, AutoCAD®, Solid Edge®, NXTM, and more. Watch how this extension works.
Features of the ECN Manager:
- Manage users: you can create various user types and groups for your team.
- Control the approval path: you can choose who the approval path goes through. This is done by drag-n-dropping users, groups or both into a path tree. Once a path is constructed, it can be saved as a template for future use. This allows the ECN initiator to control the ECN cycle fully.
- Data Storage: ECNs are automatically saved. This allows the user to review and track previously made change requests quickly. Users can easily sift through any changes ever made and their respective dispositions.
Learn more at our Customer Webinar
On July 28, we’re hosting a webinar highlighting the unique capabilities of Epicor as an ERP manufacturing system to streamline the work of Product Designers and Manufacturing Engineers. We will focus on automating 2-way product data flow between your CAD platforms and Epicor’s BOM. Find out how an engineering automation system can tightly connect your engineering design changes to what you are procuring and building on the shop floor. Save your spot here.